Leaves of Grass (1860)/To One Shortly To Die

by Walt Whitman

Layout 2

To One shortly To Die.

1.From all the rest I single out you, having a message
for you:
You are to die—Let others tell you what they
please, I cannot prevaricate,
I am exact and merciless, but I love you—There is
no escape for you.

2.Softly I lay my right hand upon you—you just
feel it,
I do not argue—I bend my head close, and half-
envelop it,
I sit quietly by—I remain faithful,
I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor,
I absolve you from all except yourself, spiritual,
bodily—that is eternal,
(The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious.)

3.The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions!
Strong thoughts fill you, and confidence—you smile!
You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick,
You do not see the medicines—you do not mind the
weeping friends—I am with you,
I exclude others from you—there is nothing to be
commiserated,
I do not commiserate—I congratulate you.